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ATLANTA — The scramble for a seat in the U.S. Senate is likely to resemble bumper cars more than the usual cliché of a horse race because of so many candidates.

There are nine candidates so far. It’s still 11 months before the primary, so more could join the fray. Plus, the Libertarian Party has yet to pick its candidate.

At least it has a variety of candidates: three congressmen, three physicians, two immigrants, two former firemen, two wealthy businessmen, two who launched charities, two women, two blacks and one Asian, but no lawyers.

Most Georgia voters don’t know a lot about Michelle Nunn, aside from the fact that she has a father, Sam Nunn, who was a U.S. senator for 24 years.

The electorate will find out more about her as the Senate race progresses. One thing already evident is that Nunn’s candidacy is generating some very strange and intense reactions among activists from both parties.

So, this is how things are supposed to work. Government and businesses working hand-in-hand to create opportunity and growth, and without giving away the store in the process.

News that Bass Pro Shops had selected a site in Columbia County to build a new 50,000-plus-square-foot outdoor and sporting goods store was trumpeted from the heights on Ronald Reagan Drive, accompanied by a good amount of back-slapping and hand shaking, as one might expect.

From the beginning, people who would ban all private guns if they could have used the George Zimmerman case to push their agenda. They push on two fronts: First, they argue that Zimmerman’s 2012 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, who had no gun, demonstrates that guns are an unmitigated evil. Second, the antigun lobby is using the case to agitate for the repeal of “stand your ground” laws, which are on the books in many states.

Every year around this time, I write an article about the weather, and every year it’s concerning the heat and my reaction to it. My body has always produced an excessive amount of sweat, but not to the point of making my stomach queasy and my head dizzy. I know this sounds like heat stroke, but I’m not in it enough to cause that.

ATLANTA — Television viewers know summer is a time of reruns. Now Georgia’s Republican legislators, in what looks like a rerun, are trying to end a major state tax.

The last state to drop its income tax was Alaska, and they got rid it after striking oil. Now, instead of paying taxes, every Alaskan gets a check from the state, courtesy of oil profits.

Then-Gov. Sonny Perdue wanted to get rid of Georgia’s income taxes, but economists told him he first needed to build up a large cash reserve for the transition. That reserve ended up being used to cushion the state in recession.

For many decades, Georgia Power has been the 800-pound gorilla in state politics.

Whatever the utility giant wanted, it usually got. Those things would include billion-dollar rate increases, the election of a favored candidate for governor or the passage of a bill by the Legislature.

Georgia Power has been able to do this in large part because of a Public Service Commission that has been more of a rubber stamp than a regulatory commission.